TexasCityDikeFishing.com

Since the fall flounder run, I’ve been doing some chores around the house and catching up on a few other things. But I did fish the last few days with a good friend of mine. Lloyd has a nice flat bottom boat and we took it out into the bay in search for some speckled trout. The only problem is the trout weren’t found. We did manage a small red along with a ribbon fish.

It felt good to get out and it was warm and sunny.

Below is a copy and paste from a reader of this site. He also included a picture of his catch. Way to go Curtis!

Attached is a picture of the 33 inch Redfish I caught recently.  Here is my story on catching it, or you can just check out the picture if you don’t want to read the entire story

I was off Monday to got to the kid’s Christmas parties at school.  I asked Robert if he wanted to go fishing after Church Sunday night since I didn’t have to get up early the next day, despite the fact that I felt like I had a cold.  We got out to the Dike in Texas City a little before 9PM.  We fished for about 90 minutes and did not have much luck other than catching a nice sized blue crab.  I was casting out into an area where I had had some luck in recent months.  I caught a nice flounder last time I had fished there and time before that I had caught a couple of Redfish that were under the 20 inch limit.  I was reeling my line in when it stopped.  I thought at first I was hung up but then I felt a good hard tug on my line.  The fish was pulling really hard and I got excited as I knew I had something good but I didn’t know what it was.  It was pulling hard enough and was big enough I afraid my line would break.  I was using a new Zebco 808 reel I had bought which is a nice reel for a cheapskate fisherman like myself but is probably best suited for smaller fish.  He was pulling hard enough that he was pulling some line back out of my reel where you could hear it whining.  I have never caught this large a fish on a rod and reel before so I was glad I had Robert there to coach me on it.  It probably took me about 10 minutes to get him up close enough to see him.  It was dark but I thought he must be either a Redfish or a Speckled Trout.  Robert got him into a net a pulled him up on the little dock we were fishing on.  I was using a number 4 Treble hook which once again was probably better suited for a smaller fish.  One treble was hung in the corner of his mouth.  I pulled it out easily with some pliers and discovered the hook had been bent out almost straight by the fish.  We measured him and he was 33 inches long.  We had to tag him as the State of Texas gives you one tag a year for keeping a Redfish over 28 inches.  I put him in an ice chest I had and he was big enough that he was bent up in the chest.  Robert and I were both afraid to put him on a stringer for fear he would somehow escape.  We fished another 90 minutes or so and the only other thing we caught was a little Croaker.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas I wish you a Happy New Year.  TexasCityDave

There are quite a few bayous that empty into Galveston Bay. If you travel upward until the water becomes more fresh, you can catch a variety of freshwater fish. A buddy and I did that and came home with ten big Blue Cats. The largest were in the ten-twelve pound class. Good eating if you like catfish. They dined on live and dead mullet caught in the cast net. Fished on the bottom with a couple ounces of lead and big treble hooks.

A good fishing friend and I braved the strong cold north wind to try a little fishing. It didn’t last too long. We arrived early to find the tide blown out and the wind made it very difficult to fish. We gave it an hour or so and called it quits. Tuesday is better weather-wise with diminishing winds and partly cloudy sunny skies. But I elected to take care of some honey-do’s and stay home. Tomorrow is another day.

Simon, a fisherman who stops by this little site, sent me a couple of pictures from a recent flounder fishing trip. It looks like he and his buddy did very well. Thanks for sending the pictures Simon.

If anyone has pictures from recent fishing outings, feel free to send them to me and I’ll be sure to post them up. Just give me a little info such as the date and general are where you were fishing. You don’t have to reveal any secret fishing spots, unless you want to, that is. . texascitydave at yahoo.com

I arrived at the end of the Texas City Dike around noon. I had a difficult time finding finger mullet with my cast net and that gave me a late start fishing. But experience and old age has caused me to slow down and not be in such of a hurry. So I settled in and put out a couple of lines.

The day turned out to be a very good one for me. I caught four flounder, but one was quite large, weighing over 7 pounds. She was 25 inches long.

Live finger mullet was used for bait and it was fished on the bottom with about 2 ounces of weight.

A cold front is coming early next week. That should make things interesting, if not difficult, for fishing. But we shall see.

The flounder fishing on the Texas City Dike has been very good lately. I’ve seen many caught during the month of November and December’s first week has been very good. I expect it to last a couple more weeks. The fish that I’ve caught have been full of eggs and they are ready to spawn.

Here are some shots from some of my fishing trips to the Texas City Dike.

Most fish have been caught on live finger mullet and shad. Some have been caught on plastic shrimp tails with a 1/4 ounce lead jig head.

I didn’t fish the past few days. It was time to enjoy Thanksgiving with family and friends. I still couldn’t help but wonder what was going on at the Texas City Dike. The weather was good and wind was down, even calm at times. I hope the folks who fished did well.

Speaking of doing well, my brother Jesse fished a few times just before Thanksgiving and really put on a show. He caught a 28 inch 7 pound speckled trout to go along with a host of other fish. He fished in Sabine Lake on the north side. Here are some shots from the outings in his boat.

28 inch 7 pound Speckled Trout

Slot red and speckled trout.

Nice mess of fish.

Rain is in the forecast for Monday. Another cool front is due in shortly thereafter. Hopefully that will continue the downward trend of water temperatures and spark the flounder run.

The north wind finally subsided today and when the sun broke through the cloud cover, it was pleasant. I fished at the end of the Texas City Dike and managed to get my two per day flounder limit. One of them weighed just under 6 pounds. She took a 5 inch mullet like it was a minnow. The other flounder hit a Gulp plastic tail.

Just under 6 pounds.

My good fishing friend, Lou, showed up and we fished together for a while. He also got his limit.

A father and son team came in from fishing from their boat and had a nice haul of redfish.

Four very nice slot redfish.

An undersize red came along for a meal. After a quick release, she was on her way.

Little red.

I’m thinking the next few days could be interesting. Go if you can.

Windy, cool, clear…did I say windy?

Strong gusty winds from the north really mixed up the water in Galveston Bay today. It looked like chocolate milk as I made my way to the end of the Dike. But that can be a good thing. Strong winds aid the tidal movement in its flushing of the shallows and replenishes the grasses and reefs with new water. It also helps cool the water and this triggers fish migration for some species.

I was surprised to see quite a few folks fishing even with the uncomfortable conditions. Most  were fishing from the south side on the rocks. A wind from the back seems to be preferred any day over casting into the wind. I saw whiting, flounder, and even a big bull red caught. Live mullet was used for the bull red and flounder, but dead shrimp was used for the whiting.

I’m thinking tomorrow the wind will lay down a bit and more flounder will make their way into some ice chests before the day is over.

If you get the chance, hit Boyd’s One Stop on Facebook. I post up some info on there as well from time to time. I am a goodwill ambassador for Boyd’s as Jason Cogburn, the owner, is a very good friend of mine. He really runs a good business and is, in my opinion, a very decent person all the way around. If youdo get by that page, drop me a line to let me know you found it. You can just make a quick comment or say “hello” on any of the pictures I’ve placed there.

My goal last week was to catch enough flounder to have a family meal on Sunday. The Good Lord provided and we had a great supper. We made stuffed flounder, fried flounder, fried crab cakes, and fried shrimp.

A cold front is fast approaching and should make it to the coast by daylight. It should help drop the temperature in Galveston Bay and improve the annual founder run. Hopefully I’ll be able to fish a little and add some flounder to the freezer.

Craig, my son-in-law surveying the situation. Flounder stuffed with shrimp and crab about to go in the oven.

The finished product. Time to eat!